


Puppy Tails

by EternallyBurning



Series: Puppy 'Verse [3]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M, one shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-09 12:35:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5540174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EternallyBurning/pseuds/EternallyBurning
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Random one-shots set during/after 'Puppy Love' and 'Puppy Instincts' so I recommend reading at least 'Puppy Love' first. Will be updated randomly, so it could be months between updates. Now taking prompts for future chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pencils

**Author's Note:**

> As this is a collection of one-shots, I will be taking prompts, so if you guys have any idea(s) that you would like me to add, feel free to either comment or inbox me and I will see what I can do.

Not Mine, Never Mine, Usual Disclaimers.

This story is set during 'Puppy Love'.

Spock had pencils, like real pencils, pencils that were obsolete pieces of technology, along with paper and other things. Yet there was a whole pile of them sitting in a container on Spock's desk, or at least they had been until Jim knocked them off. Jim was still learning how to navigate with his oversized puppy paws, and he had become somewhat clumsy. Spock had left that morning promising not to forget about him again, but Jim had quickly grown bored. He had pushed and pulled the chair out from under the desk, and climbed onto it in order to take a look around. In his endeavour, Jim had knocked the container of pencils and spilled its contents everywhere.

Shaking his head, Jim hopped off the desk and chased the offending stationary onto the floor with the intention of returning the items to their place. Jim attempted to pick them up with his hands out of habit before remembering that he was a puppy with paws lacking opposable thumbs. Jim sat back on his hunches and debated internally for several moments before trying to pick one up with his mouth. He didn't want to break or otherwise harm Spock's stuff but he didn't want to leave another mess either.

Jim growled at the pencils as he failed to pick up the objects, his muzzle kept getting in the way and threw off his depth perception. Eventually he was able to carefully pick one up ad hold onto it in his mouth without breaking or dropping it. Jumping back onto the desk via the chair, Jim ran into his next problem, as the container that had been holding the pencils was still lying on its side. Jim began pawing at the container, rolling it into the wall, hoping to use the wall as a brace to tip it upright, but the pencil kept getting in the way. Frustrated, Jim let out a yap, releasing the pencil, causing the puppy captain to chase it, but he tripped on a combination of his paws and the pencil container, sending all three tumbling to the floor.

Jim shook himself off and took stock of the mess he had made. Whining, he tapped at a pencil, half hoping for a miracle in which they magically flew back into their container up on the desk. With no miracle forthcoming, he slammed his paw down on one, only to have it flip upwards into the air. It was the most entertaining thing that Jim had encountered all day. Hitting another one, I didn't budge, so Jim tried again, this time hitting it closer towards the sharpened end, and was rewarded by having it flip. Suitably distracted for the moment, Jim forgot about not wanting to make a mess and made a game out of trying to see how high he could flip the pencils, and how far he could make them go.

He was interrupted by a, 'Captain?'

Jim looked up to see Spock and Uhura standing in the doorway, surveying the pencils scattered about the room. Uhura was looking as if she was about to burst out laughing. Jim wandered over and sat before the pair and tilted his head to the side. Spock was going to learn the hard way that a bored puppy was like a bored Jim Kirk: Destructive.


	2. Lonely

This story is set during 'Puppy Love'

Jim had taken to wandering while Spock was pulling a shift in the science labs, mixing up where he ended up each day. Some days he would cruise about the rec rooms, and mess hall, scavenging titbits from crew members. He ignored the part of his that was still the captain, and let his puppy stomach rule his head for awhile. On other days, he would hang around in the gym, watching the security personnel run mock drills on close combat situations, often playing the part of the crew member who needed "rescuing". Sometimes he would wander engineering, fetching tools for various people, which allowed him to give into his instinct to run, without denting his pride by actually playing fetch with the engineers. Jim liked to help out in engineering, he felt like he owed something to Scotty something, as he was certain that he had his chief engineer to thank for his condition not getting out beyond Enterprise. Without fail, Spock always knew where Jim had spent his day, which led Jim to the belief that Spock had his own personal network of spies to keep track of Jim's movements. Even on the rare days that Jim roamed the decks aimlessly, Spock just seemed to know, reaffirming Jim's spy network theory. On one of these days, Jim joined a crewmember in the lift, getting out when they did, but headed off down the other direction of the corridor. This was how he ended up sitting outside of sickbay, wondering if he was going bonkers for allowing himself to be near here when there was a real risk of being given a shot. Before Jim could come to his senses and leave, he sat in the middle of the corridor outside sickbay's doors and barked. He waited several minutes before barking again, but three barks later and no one had come to let him in, so he began scratching at the door, whining slightly as he did so. Several, minutes passed before an ensign he recognised from engineering, exited, the pink skin on his arm evidence of a cut just healed. Jim recognised him as one of the people he would fetch tools for, who was, as Scotty put it, "a brilliant mind, but accident prone, luckily just ter himself, or else there'd be explosions every day". The ensign noticed Jim sitting in his way and jerked backwards in surprise, nodding to his captain as the pup trotted inside. Jim bounded up to the nearest worker, pawing at his pant-leg to get his attention, then wagging his tail as the man looked down at him. The man smiled, Jim thought he might have been a nurse, but he couldn't really be sure, and led him to the door of Bones' office, opening the door for him.

Bones looked up with a 'god damn it, I'm a doctor, not a dog sitter.'

Jim simply ignored his grouchy friend and jumped up on the seat reserved for patients having private consult, curling up for a nap. Jim drifted on the edge of sleep, listening to the voice of his best friend complain, yell, and exclaim loudly at various people and to no one in particular. It was comforting to Jim; it reminded him of when he used to hang out in sickbay, waiting for Bones to finish his shift, so they could go eat together. He hadn't realised that up until now he had seen very little of his friend, and even then, it was to stab him with a needle, and he missed him terribly. Jim didn't return to full wakefulness until he felt a hand pat him, causing Jim to reflexively pull away in protest.

'Spock's here looking for you, unless you want to stay?'

Jim shook his head, as much as liked spending time with Bones, if he stayed any longer, he was sure to get a shot, or worse.

'I've missed you too,' Bones said softly as Jim jumped off the chair.

Jim nuzzled Bones' leg as he passed, walking out to meet Spock, realising that sometimes being a puppy made people lonely.


	3. Cliche

This story is set after 'Puppy Instincts'.

Spock took a moment to stroke the feline lazing upon the short wall in front of the apartment complex where Jim resided, hearing it purr contentedly. The creature's mind was dull and unevolved, very different from the complexities that Jim's mind presented while in puppy form. Spock recalled meeting the creature several days before, as he came home with Jim for the very first time.

_'Say hello to Buttercup Spock, he's the friendliest cat you've ever met.'_

_'Buttercup?'_

_'Yeah, I know, it's a name more suited for a female cow than a male cat, but that's my neighbour for you. Just watch out for the ginger cow, she's a real piece of work, claws the crap out of you.'_

_'I will endeavour to remember that.'_

_'Speaking of things that you wish to endeavour to do...' Jim had trailed of suggestively._

_Spock had been too distracted by Jim rubbing their fingers together at the time to argue about Jim's use of the word "endeavour"._

Spock pulled himself back into reality and continued his way into the building, and up to Jim's apartment. Spock paused at the door, it was an old fashioned wooden one with hinges; Spock thought that they were a security risk, but Jim liked the rustic quality of having a hinged door. Spock had still worried, until he discovered that Jim had secretly built in a force field that automatically switched on and off as the lock was engaged. Jim had proudly shown it to Spock the first time that he brought the half-Vulcan over, as Jim put it, he was nostalgic, not stupid. This is why Spock felt a small stab of concern when he went to knock on the door to announce his arrival, only for it to swing open as the latch had not caught. Spock didn't panic, it was very possible that Jim had simply used his foot to shut the door, and hadn't checked to make sure that it had caught. Entering, Spock called out for Jim but he received no reply, he was sure that Jim was alright, there was no immediate sign of anything out of the ordinary.

'Jim,' Spock called again, tensing as there was yet again no reply.

Spock methodically searched each room, starting with the lounge, progressing into the kitchen area, and finally the bedroom. The sight that greeted Spock was one that he had never even paused to consider, as Jim was currently crouched down on the floor, the majority of his weight resting on his palms. Jim was completely immobile, eyes locked on an orange pillow lying upon the bed, which Spock was certain he had never seen before. Spock came into the room itself, standing behind Jim and observed the object that commanded his captain's attention. The bed was bathed in the late afternoon sun, the window had been left open a jar to allow a breeze to carry through, although neither helped to explain Jim's sudden bizarre behaviour. Spock placed a hand on Jim's back, only for the younger man to elicit a low growl, but otherwise remained perfectly in place. Spock blinked as the pillow moved, convinced that it was some strange trick of the light, yet unable to explain the link between the phenomena and the sudden tensing of Jim's muscles.

Spock decided that the most logical way to discover the mystery of the orange pillow was to examine the pillow itself. Spock hadn't quite touched it when he jerked his hand back as the "pillow" definitely moved, sitting upright to reveal that it was not a pillow at all, rather a large ginger cat, the "ginger cow" as Jim had put it. Spock concluded that Jim's puppyness was causing some territorial issues, especially given that Jim reportedly did not like the feline to begin with. Spock turned back towards Jim to see that Jim's gaze was fixated on the movements of the ginger and was shifting his weight, as if preparing to leap. The ginger for the most part was simply alternating between washing her paws, and giving Jim an "I am holier than thou" look, which Nyota once swore all cats had. Jim growled again and Spock was convinced that he needed to do something, but was unsure as to what, as he had no idea how to snap Jim out of his puppy mode. The ginger stopped washing her paws and moved, causing Jim to whine as she slunk across the bed to where Spock was still standing, purring as she rubbed up against the back of Spock's hand.

Spock had been considering shielding the feline from Jim's view, hoping that the lack of visual stimuli would break the spell his lover was under when he felt something soft brush across the back of his hand. The next moment Jim had charged at the offending animal, crashing into Spock, causing the half-Vulcan to crash into the mattress with his arms wrapped around a struggling Jim. Jim barked and struggled to break free of Spock's grip, causing it to tighten; meanwhile the ginger arched her back, fluffed her fur, hissed, and yowled her displeasure before escaping through the window from whence she came. Jim continued to growl, and attempt to wriggle free of Spock's encasing embrace, Spock fighting to keep a hold of his lover while attempting to reposition them into a less awkward position on the bed.

'Jim,' Spock coaxed, 'Jim, Jim, Jim, it is gone now.'

Jim kept squirming, although with less fervour than before, and Spock stroked Jim's back until Jim lay still across his chest.

'Arg,' said Jim, 'that was embarrassing.'

'It could have been worse my Jim; you could have done it in public, or chased a diplomat.'

'It's not that,' Jim said, his voice muffled as he attempted to bury his face into the crook of Spock's neck, 'I tried to chase a cat. There isn't a bigger cliché, except maybe the mailman.'

'Mailman?'

'Yeah, people who used to carried letters etc back before the days of electronic correspondence.'

'Why exactly would one chase a postal service worker?'

'Dogs chase cats, and mail people, and milkmen and stuff, it's like a cat chasing a bird, or stealing the fish out of the bowl. Please tell me I don't have to tell anyone else about this,' Jim's tone had become pleading.

'Doctor McCoy and Admiral Pike will want to know about this episode.'

Jim groaned, 'great, more people to laugh at me!'

'Jim, they need to know that something happened, not the details as to what happened.'

Jim sat up to look Spock in the eyes, 'you promise?'

'I promise my T'hy'la,' Spock said, sealing his promise with a kiss.

* * *


	4. Busted

This is technically set within 'Puppy Instincts' it's mentioned in the epilogue.

 

It wasn't awkward, no really it wasn't, lying on his back, naked on the couch, propped up on his elbows with Spock doing the full Monty in front of him. It could have been sexy, had Spock been facing him, instead of the door, with his back to him. Getting caught naked, that was awkward; being caught having sex with Spock, that was embarrassing; getting caught by the cops, naked and having sex with Spock, that was mortifying. Having the cops break in because the neighbours had reported a robbery happening at "that nice Vulcan's place" after hearing the thumps, bumps, and bangs of the captain and first officer attempting to undress and find the couch all in the dark, while making out, was beyond description in words. Jim bet that his sneaky Vulcan could, he was a bastard like that; Illogical, that would be the word Spock would use. Jim snapped himself back to reality, deciding to keep his mouth shut and let Spock handle the decidedly dicey situation. When the door had opened, Spock had paused, stopped sucking on Jim's collarbone, before looking up and behind him before climbing off of Jim to face the three men standing in the doorway. The only illumination was that which filtered through the door, Jim on full display, both he and Spock fully illuminated against the dark background. Jim shifted uncomfortably, causing Spock to move slightly to better shield Jim from view, although it did nothing for Spock's modesty.

'Can I help you gentlemen?' Spock asked coolly as if this sort of thing happened all the time.

Spock's building manager was looking suitably horrified; he was undoubtedly the one who had unlocked the door for the two officers. The slightly shorter officer was shaking with silent laughter, while the taller looked as if he had never seen such a delightful sight on the job before.

The taller officer was able to keep his voice at a steady neutral tone as he answered, 'your neighbours reported a robbery at this address, it appears they were mistaken.'

'Why'd you break in if it was a robbery, wouldn't you assume that the door was already unlocked?' Jim asked, forgoing his resolution to let Spock handle it.

Spock turned and raised one eyebrow that Jim interpreted as: _you are not helping the situation, please kindly shut up._

The officer decided to ignore Jim's question, 'since the two of you are clearly in no danger of being robbed, we should be on our way.'

'That assumes that virtue can't be stolen,' Jim said grinning.

Jim heard the shorter officer laugh, while Spock gave him a Vulcan not-glare that only made Jim's grin widen. Spock waited until the three men were halfway down the corridor before shutting the door on the enquiring neighbours who had witnessed the entire exchange.

'That was not appropriate Jim.'

Jim whined and spread his legs wider, 'please?'

Spock rejoined him on the couch, tending to Jim's every whim until Jim was hard, aching, and begging for more.

Spock pulled away abruptly, 'since you clearly can get satisfaction from teasing others, you don't need me.'

'Spock,' Jim choked out as the half-Vulcan walked away.

Jim scrambled up and stumbled in the dark following Spock into the bedroom where his first officer was preparing for bed. Jim scowled, hands on his hips, at Spock who pointedly ignored him as he climbed in under the covers.

'You may sleep at my feet if you wish,' Spock said.

Jim scowled harder and climbed into bed next to Spock, curling up against Spock, hoping that he might still get lucky.

'If you insist on misbehaving James,' Spock said pushing Jim away slightly, 'I will make you sleep on the floor.'

Jim whined and buried his face into Spock's chest, relaxing when he felt Spock wrap his arms around him and pull him in closer.

* * *

When Jim told Bones the story the next day at lunch, Bones had burst into laughter, while trying not to feel too horrified at the amount of detail Jim had included.

'It's not funny,' Jim commented with his mouth full, 'he left me to suffer blue balls all night and this morning.'

Bones only laughed harder, 'oh Jimmy, can't you see, he was training you.'

'I'm not a dog.'

'Yes, but you should know by now that Spock can be possessive, just look at how he reacted when you suggested sharing that one time? My guess is that he wanted to teach you a lesson.'

'What lesson, don't make cops laugh?'

'Jim,' said Bones turning serious, 'how do you feel about the cops looking at Spock while he was naked?'

'I dunno, I guess in hindsight I feel a little off about him being ok with it, but they were looking at me, not him, besides, I know that Spock isn't going to do anything anyway.'

'And how did you feel about them looking at you?'

Jim shrugged, 'a little uncomfortable, but not enough to really care.'

'Ok, now how do you think you would feel if they were looking at Spock and Spock had a reputation for sleeping around?'

'But Spock doesn't-'

'Just answer the question Jim.'

'Fine. I wouldn't like, and Spock does like me I would wonder if I was enough... oh.'

'If it makes you feel better, I would stare at you too, at least I've seen what's down there. Jim what are you doing?'

Jim had ducked under the table and was currently trying to peer in between Bones' legs, 'you see that guy over there? He's Spock's neighbour, the one who called the cops.'

Bones grinned, he had a feeling that he wasn't going to let Jim forget about this for a long time.


	5. Grass

This story is set during 'Puppy Love'.

* * *

He was moving effortlessly, his paws barely hitting the ground before he launched himself upwards, hurtling through the jungle with glee. The green grass was taller than he was, springy moss splattered in-between the grass underfoot, the sun peaking between strands, unfamiliar scents filling his nose. Jim felt his tail wag involuntarily as he sniffed out this bug and that bug, unable to resist the urge to eat one, finding that it tasted like burnt meat and not all that unpleasant. Racing through the grass, he made tunnels that interconnected into his own little labyrinth of his own making, one only he knew the way out of. Racing into a small clearing he rolled over onto his back and wiggled about, the tall grass shading him from the slightly too warm afternoon sun. Rolling back over Jim stretched out and dozed, listening to the sounds the slight breeze made as it travelled through his tunnelled maze.

* * *

'Hey Spock what do you think he's dreaming of?' Uhura asked nodding at Kirk as she moved her pawn.

Spock glanced over to where the captain turned dog was lying on the bed, all four paws moving back and forth as though he was running.

'Something that involves running,' he commented, disinterested.

'Chicken,' said Uhura as Spock made his move, 'I bet there's chicken involved somehow.'

* * *

 _Chicken, I bet there's chicken involved somehow_.

The words seemed to float through the air to Jim's ears and suddenly he was starving, the thought of Spock feeding him was becoming overwhelming. Jim wiggled forward through the tunnels until he emerged at the foot of a tree, and not just any tree, a tree which instead of growing fruit, was growing bite-sized pieces of cooked chicken. Jim eagerly raised himself up onto his hind legs to snack on the produce on the low-hanging branches, gorging himself as he pleased. Soon he had divested all of the lower branches of their delicious food, but he was still hungry and the rest of the branches were too high for him to reach. Growling slightly, Jim leapt and snatched at the food at the peak of his jump, getting a mouthful of vegetation for his troubles. Undeterred, Jim tried again.

Uhura watched as Jim growled in his sleep and how his back legs sped up in their motions.

'Maybe he's running from Klingons.'

'He could be running from Dr. McCoy, I hardly see how this is relevant.'

_Klingons. McCoy._

Jim paused as the words drifted down to him, they were spoken by two different people – he was sure of it. The next thing he knew, there was a Klingon climbing down the tree, being chased by an angry hypo-wielding Bones, threatening to shove the needle someplace delicate. Jim barked his encouragement as the two figures chased one another round and round the tree, inciting Jim to join in the fun. On the third trip around the tree, Jim fell over a root and fell down, down, down onto the floor of Spock's quarters. Shaking himself off, Jim wandered over to his bowl and helped himself to the contents, lazily watching Spock's meditating form. There was a chime at the door, and Spock opened his eyes to answer it, admitting a hypo-wielding Bones in. Jim shot under the desk and hoped that a Klingon would show up and distract everyone long enough for him to hide. Jim hoped in vain.


	6. Of Dancing Bears and Pink Tutus

This story is set during 'Puppy Instincts'

* * *

 

Leonard stared at the returning away team before him, there was no way, NO WAY this was happening again, he was cursed and it was all Jim's fault, he never should have sat next to him on that shuttle. He was a doctor, not a god damn veterinarian! He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, thinking over a dozen different reasons to ban Jim from going on away missions, each one more colourful than the next.

'Alright, stick him on the table then,' he huffed at the hobgoblin, 'and then you can explain to me exactly what the hell happened this time.'

'The away team discovered a statue much like that which turned the captain into a canine, except that of an ursidae. The captain attempted to touch the statue, which prompted Ensign Chekov to pull him away, but in the process lost his balance and landed on the statue. You can see the result.'

Leonard surveyed his latest patient with a critical eye, 'if uri-thing doesn't mean bear then I think you need an eye test.'

Spock shot Leonard a Vulcan not-smirk, 'I was merely trying to remain scientific.'

Leonard grumbled under his breath as he waved his tri-corder over the bear cub that was sitting on the bio-bed before him. There was a whine and Leonard looked down to see Jim sitting on the floor next to him, looking up Chekov, looking somewhat smug.

'I blame you, you know,' Leonard told him. Jim just barked. 'You should have known better.'

Jim simply whined again before jumping up onto the bed next to the cub and licked the Russian on the nose. The door opened and Uhura walked in smiling at the sight of bear cub and puppy playing together on the bed.

'Aw, how cute, and it fits so well, I mean-'

'If what you're about to say,' Leonard interrupted, 'has anything to do with Russian's and bear, or certain captains and dogs, I do not want to hear it.

'But he's a Russian _dancing_ bear,' Spock commented.

Leonard just stared at Spock as if the pointy eared elf had just grown another head, 'a Russian... are you... just... out, get out both of you!'

As soon as the two senior officers were out of the room, Leonard turned back to his patients only for his eyes to nearly bulge out of his head and onto the floor, not that he was discounting the possibility or anything. There on the bed, was Chekov the bear cub, standing up on his hind legs (paws?) and juggling four or five red balls, wearing a frilly pale pink tutu. Jim grinned at him in that doggy way and stood up as well, clapping his paws in time to circus music that had started playing over the ship-wide comm. before dancing around Chekov. Leonard closed his eyes and hoped that it was all some kind of horrible nightmare, only to feel Jim licking his face.

Opening his eyes Leonard was greeted with darkness, 'lights,' he called out, rolling over to see Jim sitting next to him on his bed.

Groaning Leonard closed his eyes as Jim jumped off the bed. He hated it when he had dreams like that, so vivid and real. Sitting up, he watched as Jim quietly stalked the bear cub that was Ensign Chekov, only to dart away when the Ensign yawned. Getting out of bed, he tripped and fell, hard, onto the floor of his office. Shaking off the dream he rubbed his elbow where he had banged it on the floor. It had been a long time since he had experienced a dream within a dream. Deciding to stretch his legs he made his way to the bridge, detouring only for a cup of coffee. When he arrived, he watched Jim rub at his nose with the side of his hand, like a dog would rub its muzzle with a paw, before switching his gaze to the back of Ensign Chekov's head, who was laughing quietly with Sulu.

'We will arrive at Jelterzar 4 in ten minutes captain,' reported Sulu.

Ah yes, the new planet _Enterprise_ had been sent to explore.

'Jim,' said Leonard coming up beside the captain's chair.

'Bones,' said Jim smiling, 'what can I do for you?'

Lowering his voice so that he wouldn't be over heard Leonard replied 'do me a favour will ya? Don't take Chekov on the away team.'

Jim frowned but nodded, 'ok, but any particular reason as to why?'

'Let's just say I have a feeling.'

Leaving Jim with a bewildered look on his face, Leonard left the bridge and headed back to sickbay. He had a feeling he may just be needed yet.


	7. Beagles and Warnings

Set during 'Puppy Love'

* * *

 

Scotty was working in engineering when Doctor McCoy found him. Scotty, like the rest of the crew had heard the rumours about the Captain's mysterious appearance as a canine on the bridge that morning. As curious s he was to investigate the truth of the matter himself, he was quite busy with the repairs and upgrades being done to the _Enterprise's_ engines to wander up to the bridge. He was pulling a plasma conduit apart when the Doctor cleared his throat to make his presence known. Looking up, Scotty met the angry glare of the southern doctor.

'I suppose you've heard the rumours,' said McCoy, scowling.

'Aye,' hedged Scotty, unsure as to where his was headed.

'Then as chief medical officer aboard this ship, it is my duty to inform you that any interference with my patient upon your behalf will cause me to file every complaint I can think of.'

Scotty was confused, 'there be any reason fer this warnin' or are ya telling everyone?'

'Don't give me that bull, I've heard about you and Admiral Archer's beagle, and I won't see a repeat performance with Jim, you hear me?'

'Aye, but considering that I've already proved me theory as sound with both myself and the Capt'n, as human test subjects there'd be hardly any point, would there? Besides I'm too busy as it is.'

McCoy stood there gaping at him in the corridor, 'well... just, see... see that you don't.'

Scotty shook his head as he watched the doctor walk away, wondering as to exactly what the hell the nurses had been whispering to each other now.


	8. Cat People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no beta so all mistakes are mine. Also I wrote this on my phone, which I've never done before, so please point out any mistakes.

So not mine, except for the plot.

 

Cat people, why did it have to be cat people? Jim thought to himself as he trekked his way through the jungle.

  
They worshipped the damn things as far as Jim had been able to gather, not that he could tell much, as the Twillb used some sort of complex sign/body language to communicate, and even Uhura was having trouble understanding them. Jim cursed silently as he tripped on a root, it was bad enough that there was a language barrier, but there were giant feline-like statues erected in the foliage on both sides of the path, each about 20ft apart. Not to mention that the locals themselves looked like some kind of mutant bird, kind of like some of those god pictures from ancient Egypt Jim had seen in his history lessons as a kid. Jim tampered down on his growing frustration as his inner puppy raised its hackles at one of the statues as they passed, its snarling mouth open wide enough that Jim could stick his head into. The temptation to do so was growing, as Jim suppressed the urge to chase the natives, it was this kind of situation that Bones had warned him about, where he was likely to do something stupid because he’d been denying his inner puppy instincts for too long. It wasn’t his fault, once they’d found out about the cat chasing incident, his crew had teased him mercilessly about it, leaving him too embarrassed to vent his puppyness. Ok so he could have put a stop to his crew’s teasing, and it wasn’t like he did these things in public anyway, the only one to see him do those things was Spock and Spock was too Vulcan to tease him about it. Speaking of Spock, Jim wished his lover was there, but his first officer was busy with a delicate experiment and couldn’t be pulled away for the away team.

  
The Twillb leading them stopped and started making angry motions with his hands, clicking his beak as he did so. From the lack of weapons being drawn, Jim guessed the Twillb hadn’t suddenly decided to kill his guests. Uhura was frowning, tilting her head slightly to the side as she watched them, Jim shot her a questioning look, but she just shrugged in response. Suppressing the urge to sigh, Jim waited patiently until the Twillb stated back up the path again, but not before caressing the stone head of a statue. It wasn’t until Uhura kicked him in the shin that Jim realised he was silently snarling at the action. Dropping his eyes to the ground beneath his feet, Jim started walking, wishing he had four legs again instead of two, so he could run as far as he could with his tail tucked between his legs. It wasn’t long until the group came to the edge of the jungle. Several hundred metres before them, down a gentle slope was a city hidden away.  
‘This is their capital,’ Uhura said to Jim and the three security with them, ‘the Twillb, from what we can tell prefer a preindustrial lifestyle while still developing space-faring technology. From what I’ve read from the first contact mission report, even they’re ships are designed to feel like you’re in a medieval castle.’

  
‘Makes you wonder how they build them,’ mutters Jamison, or maybe it was Jackson, he was new and Jim hadn’t memorised his name yet, but knew his face.

  
‘Slowly,’ answered Uhura, smirking slightly as the man flushed red.

  
Fredderickson, Emma, if Jim remembered correctly, snorted.

  
Just at that moment, a feline slunk its way out of the undergrowth and the Twillb seemed to collectively hold their breath as it wandered over to the group. It was about the size of a house cat, but with six legs, three at the back, three at the front, and its tail split into two about two thirds down, each end curving to the front and supporting what looked like a scorpions barb on the end. Jim could feel the urge to do something as it drew closer. It wandered around the group a couple of times before wandering between them. Jim clenched his jaw as it sniffed in his direction, hands curling into fists as it came right up to where he and Uhura were standing. Jim swore it was glaring at him before it decided to rub it’s cheek up against Uhura’s leg, its purr like an antique vacuum cleaner, or may it was the blood rushing through ears, Jim didn’t know and didn’t care. The head Twillb began clacking away in what Jim took to be a happy way and he snapped, or to be more precise, he howled. There was dead silence for a split second, the echo of Jim’s howl echoing faintly in the background, before the damn feline hissed and Jim barked in response. The feline fled and all hell broke loose, the last thing he remembered before feeling the familiar tug of the transporter, was Emma yelling for an emergency beam-out and to have sickbay on standby. Yeah it was just one of those missions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if I should expand on this or keep it as a one shot. I have several ideas that I might play with. Ideas are welcome.


	9. Pain

It was about mid morning when Jim noticed it. At first he just pushed it out of his mind. After all he was on shift on the bridge, besides, it was nothing really, just a small blip on his radar. By late afternoon the barely-there ache at the base of his spine had morphed into a deep throbbing ache throughout his lower back. No matter how Jim sat, it bothered him and the crew had started to notice. Spock in particular kept shooting him worried looks, well as worried as a Vulcan could be without expressing any emotion. As soon as Jim's shift ended, he bolted from his chair and headed for sick bay. He didn't even wait for his replacement to arrive, or hand the bridge off to anyone else, he was just gone. 

McCoy was just finishing up with a patient when the captain burst through sick bays door. With an eye roll, Leonard finished up with his patient before paying the slightest bit of attention to his best friend.  
“Jim, what do-“  
McCoy didn't get to finish his sentence before Kirk was dragging him into his office and locking the door.  
“Jim, wha-“  
“It hurts Bones, at first I thought it was because Spock and I were... but it's getting worse and I feel like it's spreading!”  
“You and Spock were doing what, and now what hurts?” asked McCoy baffled, “Jim yer not making any sense.”  
“We were... you know... in bed?”  
“Was that a question?”  
“Bones! My back hurts.”  
“Alright Jimmy, lets take a look.” McCoy scanned Kirk, frowning as he read the results. “Shirt off.”  
Jim complied silently, not liking the look on his friends face. A moment later he regretted it as McCoy pressed on his tail bone causing pain to shoot up his spine.  
“Ow. Bones, what was that for?”  
“Ya got some unusual swelling, there were some unusual creatures on that plant from a few days ago, ya might have picked something up. I'll gibe ya a shot and if it gets worse come back. Now get out of my suck bay.”  
Jim scowled but complied. He knew that the recent away mission had caused an unusual amount of patients recently, at least half the crew had had an allergic reaction after coming into contact with items brought back from the planet but so far he had been lucky. Just his luck he'd end up with something worse than a rash. Throwing his shirt on, Jim left sick bay.

Leonard was awoken far too early by his comm. going off.  
“What?” He snapped into it.  
“Doctor you are needed immediately in the captain's quarters.”  
“Spock?”  
“Hurry doctor.”  
Fearing that something was seriously wrong with Jim, Leonard didn't even bother changing before racing towards the captain's quarters. Once there, he was greeted by Spock who wordlessly let him in. Curled up on his side, hiding under a blanket was Jim.  
“Jim,” called McCoy softly, “what's wrong.”  
The blanket shifted as Jim curled up tighter. McCoy carefully lifted the blanket edge where he best guessed the problem lay. For a moment he was speechless.  
“Fuck,” he swore.  
“You're telling me,” came Jim's muffled reply.  
There, poking out from the base of Jim's spine, was a rather familiar looking tail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was half asleep when I wrote this and it hasn't been edited. I don't even know what I was thinking when I wrote it.


End file.
